If you love a rich and creamy French goat's milk cheese, this button-shaped goat cheese is truly special. From Sancerre in the Loire region of France, Crottin de Champcol, a pasteurized version of Crottin de Chavignol AOC, has a natural rind which ranges from pale ivory to light brown. These color gradations demonstrate how the cheese tastes at every stage of its aging. After eight days of life, it is ready to be eaten, having a gentle, aromatic, yeasty taste and a fine, moist texture. At this point, Crottin weighs about 140g. After two weeks, the interior softens, the taste is nuttier and full bodied and it weighs in at 110g. After about 20 days, the cheese will change again into a fruitier, denser and creamier cheese. After five weeks, the cheese is dry and has really shrunk! The smell gets stronger and the cheese develops a meaty texture and a robust flavor. After four months, just grate off the rind that has formed. By this time the rind will be blue-gray and looks most like its literal translation, "horse droppings". At four months, the cheese will have reduced to a mere 40g. Crottin de Champcol is rich and varied at every stage and it is a pleasure to enjoy the complexities of this cheese. Crottin is very popular grilled, making the base of a chevre salad. This is also a great table cheese. Use this cheese differently according to its age, from baking to salads. It will never quite be the same, but will always be scrumptious.

The cheese was very moist and very strong. Aged goat cheese is my favorite cheese but this particular variety has a very full bodied flavor which was more pungent than creamy. Definitely far from Crottin de Chavignol or any varieties of goat cheese I've tried before. So if you like a very strong pungent goat cheese then this is for you!

By Shellyfrom Barstow, Caon May 21, 2009

I would buy this product again and again

I very much enjoyed this cheese. You can find a similar product in any specialty food store, but alas, there is not one where I am currently located and igourmet.com offers the foods I love.

By JP from Burgundyfrom Raleigh, NCon Mar 26, 2009

Unwrap it and let it dry!

For Christ sake, remove the crottin from its plastic wrapping and let it dry! If you have a well ventilated area not too hot, leave it out, just protected by a screen (a metal colander turned upside down over a plate will do the trick). You will not believe what you get after a week or two, it's really worth waiting. Any red wine will taste good after a dry crottin but good red wines like a Burgundy will turn sumptuous!